A Very Lucky Girl

I began my babysitting career as a mother's helper to a darling little one year old named Caleb. That is, I took care of Caleb while his mom worked from home. It was probably the best way for me to learn how to care for such a little guy.  From there I moved on to looking after the kids of the couples in my parents' young marrieds Sunday School class. I cuddled with Aubrey and Georgia Mae, while the adults carved pumpkins or exchanged White Elephant Christmas gifts.  I eventually took my talents to the Brubaker family. I loved my regular nights with Emily and Grace. We played board games, watched movies, and ate frozen pizza. They lived only a few miles from me and the convenience made for an enticing first real babysitting job. Combined with the evenings with the McAteer kids, I was rich for an 8th grader.  We made cookies for the neighbors down the road when they first moved in. They turned out to be the McAteer family and they were wonderful. Kevin, Pamela, Kevin Jr...

I have not been in the mood for immature shenanigans this week. I think lack of sleep is catching up with me and breeding irritability. Unfortunately, the kids are up and at 'em within minutes of my arrival at 7:45 AM every morning. I creep into the house and shut the front door as quickly as possible, removing my shoes, and whispering to talk to their mother, hoping to catch a few more childless seconds. Twice this week she assured me that they had stayed up late and would more than likely sleep in. Both times one or the other kid woke up within 3 minutes of being issued this statement.  On one of these mornings Brother quickly realized that I wasn't going to be engaging in any sort of activity before 9 AM (I cuddle up on their giant bean bag as soon as I arrive and definitely plan on investing in something of the sort when I move out of the dorms) and resigned himself to some Wii time. He tried to play a Hot Wheels racing game and the disc wouldn't read. He brought it ...

Week three is complete. Only 2 more weeks left until my entire week off. I'm a little bit excited about 7 whole days dedicated to just being 20. Because I've figured out that the trick to making nannying enjoyable for everyone is to act their age--to a point. If I put myself into a 9 year old mindset (the mean of their ages), then I don't mind playing play dough nearly as much.  On Monday I took the kids to Frontier City. This was my first time there. I suggest a motion to rename it Jank City. Every single ride creaked. The very first one was a Splash Mountain wannabe, where you rode in a rickety log flume around a riveting creek until plunging over a drop. I clutched the handle bars  until my knuckles turned white and gritted my teeth as the less-than-stable log made its agonizing ascent to the top of the drop. I used to love roller coasters! And I think I still do...I just have an aversion to the ones that aren't reassuringly, positively safe. I couldn't stop t...